DURHAM, N.H. – Great advertising campaigns must have great
stopping power – the ability to convince readers to pause
and read an ad – and a team of students from the University
of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics developed
an ad campaign that did just that, winning them the MicroArts Advertising
Competition.

The winning team consisted of Amanda Gingras, a senior from Milton,
VT; Mike Grabowski, a senior from Pleasantville, N.Y.; Drew Schulthess,
a sophomore from Exeter; and Nancy Wolfson, a junior from Granite
Springs, N.Y.

The team was selected among four teams of students who are members
of the new Whittemore School Advertising Club. They were charged
with developing the advertising campaign for MicroArts, a Greenland-based
marketing and advertising firm that sponsored the competition. Their
challenge was to help the firm break into the Greater Boston market
with a comprehensive advertising campaign.

“The winning team was chosen because its ad was the one that,
without a question, would work. It would accomplish the goals, and
get the response and return on the advertising that we would require.
It also captured the essence of our business perfectly,” said
Peter Getman, CEO and co-founder of MicroArts. “It was the
most relevant. It was the most creative. It had great stopping power
in terms of readership. It was based on sound research and good
creative work.”

According to Getman, MicroArts has had great success hiring UNH
students. This summer, the firm will employ five students as interns
and plans to offer five internships in the fall. “Our business
model is very much based on hiring the best and brightest, young,
creative, marketing strategy people coming out of UNH.” Getman
said.

According to UNH marketing instructor Peter Masucci, competitions
play a critical role in the overall educational experience.

“The students have a chance to experience a real-world marketing
situation and work directly with professionals in the field. They
learn to deal with the pressures of deadlines, work as a team, and
apply the concepts from a variety of courses. And the competition
provides an excellent entry on their resumes,” Masucci said.

The winning team was awarded a cash prize of $1,000, and the chance
to see its creative work in a real print advertisement. The competition
was designed to help prepare the students for UNH’s entry
next year into the National Student Advertising Competition sponsored
by the American Advertising Federation.